Snakehead Whisperer

Or a finger in your chili?

That sounds like a sensible approach. I find that I never know what type of gear I need for a certain presentation until I learn it. If I'm missing fish then I'll try to adjust my gear accordingly. My first worm rod was a ML

I fish a dropshot on a baitcaster pretty often. The setup I use is as follows: -7.1:1 reel (free spool) -7' MH rod -6-10lb. copoly/flouro line I also have a second ds rigged on spinning gear usually.

Too many variables, but usually something black or chartreuse. This past weekend I had success with a black 4" saltwater gulp swimming mullet on a black slider head. Water visibility was about 3-6".

x2

Ever tried using a rope lure? Longnose Gar are pretty hard to catch on a hook. Especially larger ones. That thing is a beast. Out here bow hunting for gar is pretty popular. I must admit that it makes me kind of sad (most people just throw the carcasses on the bank.) Gar are such cool and inquisitive fish. They are almost reminiscent of a freshwater dolphin.

I'm guessing you will meet this goal very early in the year if you actually follow through with your plans.

Caught some of my largest fish while tossing tiny offerings. This winter I caught a 7lber. on a 1/32oz. jig head with a 3/4" curly tail grub while crappie fishing. There's no one answer to this question. If I had to name one big fish bait it would be 4" or larger swimbait. Have fun tossing it for 2 hours without a single bite though. Large profile crankbaits/jerkbaits tend to catch bigger fish too in my experience. Then again, I've caught 6" bluegills on 4" cranks.

I love night fishing in the spring. In my experience night fishing in the summer, the bite will usually slow down to a crawl right after sundown and pick up again a couple of hours later. In the spring it seems that the bite is just warming up at sundown, and I usually find them shallow like A-Jay mentioned in his post. Right now the night bite is decent here in DC, and the water temp is high 40's or so.

x2. Use a spinnerbait with a Colorado Blade (as opposed to a willow leaf.) It will produce a much more pronounced thump/vibration that the fish can sense with their lateral line. I would also try fishing slack water flooded areas, perhaps near flooded timber/vegetation. Try slow fishing a rattling crankbait in firetiger, chartreuse or black. If the water is 4 feet deep, use a crankbait that dives 6' and slowly bump the bottom on your retrieve. Fishing in low visibility is hard enough, but throw cold water into the mix and it makes for pretty unpredictable results. If you catch anything you should feel pretty great. I still try when it's safe to.

The rod will work, but you will not have that much sensitivity. It should have plenty of backbone for hook sets though. The biggest concern I would have with using and UglyStick would be the weight and holding a heavy rod for extended periods of time. If you're on a tight budget then that rod will work fine. Just do some serious research before you go out and buy your next rod. For $50-100 you can buy a good rod that you will never outgrow if you make an informed purchase. For a budget rod the BassPro Graphite Series rods are pretty decent. $40 and they're built pretty tough. I use them whenever I'm fishing someplace where I'm afraid to take my nice gear.

Last year I was fishing with a friend and his kids. We were catching rock bass left and right on night crawlers. After about the 90th fish in an hour I started to get hungry and slightly bored (kids were having a blast, btw.) My friend offered some Chex Party Mix and a lightbulb went off in my head... I decided to put the Chex mix on a 1/16oz. jig head and try to catch some rock bass on it. They hit the Chex with reckless abandon and I started having fun again. As far as bass being conditioned to lures, etc.... I believe that most folks underestimate the intelligence of animals in general. Life for a fish is no walk in the park. I admit that it's possible that a full grown bass may have just been fortunate to survive through all of it's vulnerable stages in life and beat the odds, but my belief is that larger fish are cunning predators who are smarter than average. They grow to large sizes by being cautious and suspicious of their surroundings and the forage that they feed on. This is not to say that they are conscious of anglers, but I do believe that they can sense when something is not right and make a judgement call on whether it's worth the risk to eat a bait. Obviously they fall for artificial baits quite often, but I bet they pass on them just as often. Not saying that I have any evidence to back this up, but it's what I choose to believe for now.

Beaver ponds provide excellent habitat for bass too. They attract all kinds of wildlife (food.) Here in the DC area we have beaver ponds that fish migrate into during flood events, this includes bass, pickerel and snakehead. I'd say go for it.

Jeff Little is the truth when it comes to river smallmouth fishing. I also like to use Slider's for that type of presentation. One of my favorite river smallie techniques is fishing a buzzbait cross current in riffles during the heat of summer, especially on an overcast day. Jeff's YouTube page is really good, you should check out his videos. http://www.youtube.com/user/SmallmouthBassFish/

I don't think anybody is going to admit it if they do have a photo like that

Ha ha... I can sum this up with 3 words. "One more cast."

Sound advice. I would like to point out that most of the cheap Asian knock-offs are initially ripped off by somebody here in the US, who then source manufacturing in China. Sorry, but I'm always driving China's ambulance when this comes up. There are some seriously superior products coming out of China (especially metals, but they're not cheap.) It's the Americans who want to build stuff on the cheap who typically outsource manufacturing there... hence they don't want to pay for quality control and all of the other aspects that go into running a tight ship, leading to an inferior product. It's not the Chinese factories fault that we settle for garbage. They would happily make high quality stuff if we were willing to raise our prices here. BTW, I love HawgTech and you guys set a good example of how to do it right. Also there is a thread on TU about this very thing, though it delves more into the legal aspects of being legit with taxes and the like. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/topic/24473-how-do-i-sell-my-baits-in-a-tackle-shop/

I've never tried this tool, but it's always looked intriguing. http://lurepartsonline.com/Online-Store/Fishing-Accessories/Jig-Eye-Buster.html I usually use an old hook and just jab at it (kind of dangerous.)

Off the shelf my favorite crankbait is a Mann's Baby 1-Minus in Ghost Bluegill, although I employ an arsenal of cranks throughout the year. When the shallow cranking bite is on, it's one of my favorite techniques. The BPS "The Egg" is also deadly and dives even shallower than a 1-Minus (1-3"... just swap out the hooks for something quality and you're good to go.)

I always know Spring is here when my wife comes running out of the shower because there is a stink bug in there. For some reason they really like to lounge in my bath tub.

I'd say it is. Dead-sticking really tries an anglers patience and if one can overcome it builds patience. This technique excels for me on lethargic fish in the heat of summer, especially river smallmouth. Not many folks can truly dead stick an artificial bait.

Really like the purple gill and the pink and lime colored ones in the first pic. Nice work.

One of my most productive finesse techniques is to use either a walleye style ringworm, or a 7" ribbontail worm t-rigged weightless on a 3/O or 4/O EWG hook with a small worm rattle inserted into the plastic. I fish laydowns, weed edges and docks with this presentation. It's sometimes painful to wait on this bait to sink, but it just flat out produces. This bait also skips nicely into hard to reach places, and with a delicate entry to the water.

PM sent.

I'm pretty much over the BPS apps, and I've yet to have tried one. BPS has had "Coming Soon For Android!!" posted for all of their apps for well over a year now Not holding my breath in anticipation or buying an iPhone/iPad.